Unification sponsor uncertainties for the opportunity of highly developed education

The world's largest oil exporter goal is to transform its system of higher education. With the recent appointment of Dr. Assam Al-Oakhill as the new Minister of Education, dramatic changes have occurred. The biggest merger of the two ministries - in higher education and the education ministries - in a ministry called the Ministry of Education.

This surprising move has made numerous fears among academics working in the higher education sector. Although large investments in higher education has led to a sharp increase in the number of universities in Saudi Arabia, the move could be seen to threaten or limit this process.

In a recent article in The Times Higher Education, Professor Philip Attach laid out a road map for the new university in Saudi Arabia to achieve world-class status. He cautiously said that the bureaucratic and administrative structures could stand in the way of that goal.

Connecting with the notoriously bureaucratic Ministry of Education is seen as a step in the wrong direction and see as adding more administrative structures.

Although the country has invested in recent years in higher education in terms of the number of its universities, student enrollment and scholarship programs, it is feared that the merger could jeopardize the rapid growth of government spending on excellence and productivity.

About 25% of last year's budget was devoted to education, one of the highest levels in the world. Furthermore, spending on higher education has grown almost 10% of the budget under the late King Abdullah. However, the old Ministry of Education is known to delays in its projects and its prudent spending over the years. The concern is that the merger may slow consumption and manage the wave of steady growth in the bureaucratic siding.

Autonomy

Connect can also create serious problems and confusion regarding the autonomy of universities. The government policy of higher education institutions to push the status of knowledge and world-class. As a result, he was promoted to a series of practices and incentives related to productivity and autonomy in the academic profession.

Connecting the contrary this policy and marks a step back to the old way of doing things that academic institutions are seen as only about teaching and preparing students for the job market. Advocates of the move say that the new ministry will be the governing body responsible for students from elementary stage at the university level.

However, this means a greater emphasis on teaching and leaves few resources for research and world-class performance - with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST - will be no exception. Surely there is a lack of clarity about it. It is still unclear how the new ministry will balance what you want to happen and what actually happens. If this is the case, policy makers must be a clear definition of the roles and missions of the university.

All in all, a surprising move to combine two ministries feared that drift is a policy in higher education in Saudi Arabia. It is unclear how it will resolve the legitimate concerns of autonomy and excellence, but what is true is that the system is the Saudi Arabian higher education through cosmetic surgery. Only time will tell if this is the best or worse.

Rewashed Alruwaili is an assistant professor in the language and translation department of the University of North border of Saudi Arabia.